Content creators vs. Marketers

Warning-bad-contentThere is a lot of great marketing information available online on everything from demographics to social media marketing.  However, marketers should be careful to ensure that any content on marketing is actually written by someone who has worked in marketing, not a journalist.

One of the key points that came out of Dan Lyon’s books on Hubspot was that the people who writing ebooks on marketing had no marketing experience.  How in the world can any marketer take advice on how to market a product or brand from someone whose only experience is working at a CMS company that has never turned a profit?

content marketer

When you read content you need to think about the credibility of the author and ask;

1ne: Has this person ever worked in marketing?

2wo: Were they ever responsible for branding or marketing metrics?

3hree: Is this content meant to inform/educate or is it meant as a press release in disguise?

Those of us who have lived and died by IRI market share numbers or have been called into meetings to explain marketing metrics in relation to sales understand that there is a huge difference between a content creator and a successful marketer.

are-you-guilty-of-been-there-done-that-hiring

The other key question that has to be asked, when reading marketing research, is asking the question “how does this apply to my brand/customers?”.  While I believe digital is a necessary part of any marketing mix I can make a pretty good argument that POP and in-store promotion will do a lot more to drive sales than having a robust website and social media presence.

Don’t let others do your thinking for you.  Take all free research with a grain of salt and listen to your prospects and customers.  Never assume that generic and free research applies to your industry and never confuse a journalist with someone who has marketing experience.

 

About richmeyer

Rich is a passionate marketer who is able to quickly understand what turns a prospect into a customer. He challenges the status quo and always asks "what can we do better"? He knows how to take analytics and turn them into opportunities and he is a great communicator.

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One Comment on “Content creators vs. Marketers”

  1. Rich:

    What I think this also speaks to, and something I’ve been critical of relative to Hubspot and content marketing in general, is neither content marketing, nor inbound marketing, can typically be the be-all-end-all marketing approach for most companies, as purveyors of such mentalities, like Hubspot, often espouse.

    They can both be very effective channels/tactics, when implemented right and intelligently, but for the vast majority of companies must be part of a holistic, comprehensive marketing strategy, that utilizes as many or all of the marketing channels that one’s company should ideally be using.

    Chris Pierdominici

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